Earnest apologies for failing to post a few words of tribute to Oscar-winning Italian helmer Lina Wertmuller, who passed two days ago at age 91. My summary is no different than anyone else’a. I was around for her mid ’70s heyday and I channelled the same things — a strong tide lifts all boats. As we speak I can’t summon a single original Wertmuller thought. I’m just another fanboy.

Wertmuller’s first two Giancarlo Giannini films in the ’70s — The Seduction of Mimi (’72) and Love and Anarchy (’73) — were warm-ups for her historic one-two punch — Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (’74) and especially her crowning achievement, Seven Beauties (’75). It landed Wertmuller a Best Director Oscar nom. And right after that her hot streak was more or less over, never to return. But at least she had one.

A little more than two years ago (’19) Wertmuller was honored with a career tribute Oscar.

Three Wertmuller signatures that always come to mind — (a) the “Oh Yeah” newsreel montage at the beginning of Seven Beauties (wonderful, pure joy), (b) that third-act moment in Swept Away when a purring Mariangela Melato asks the Marxist Giannini to “sodomize me” and Giannini doesn’t know what that means, and (c) those white-framed glasses.

“The ones who were there…”

The ones who don’t enjoy themselves even when they laugh.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who worship the corporate image not knowing that they work for someone else.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who should have been shot in the cradle.
Pow! Oh, yeah.
The ones who say follow me to success but kill me if I fail, so to speak.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say we Italians are the greatest he-men on earth.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are from Rome.
The ones who say that’s for me.
The ones who say, you know what I mean.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote for the right because they’re fed up with strikes.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who vote white in order not to get dirty.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who never get involved with politics.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say, be calm. Calm.
The ones who still support the king.
The ones who say, yes, Sir.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who make love standing in their boots and imagine they’re in a luxurious bed.
The ones who believe Christ is Santa Claus as young man.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who say: Oh, what the hell.
The ones who were there.
The ones who believe in everything… even in God.
The ones who listen to the national anthem.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who love their country.
The ones who keep going, just to see how it will end.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are in garbage up to here.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who sleep soundly, even with cancer.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who even now don’t believe the world is round.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
The ones who’re afraid of flying.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who’ve never had a fatal accident.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who’ve had one.
The ones who at a certain point in their lives create a secret weapon, Christ.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who are always standing at the bar.
The ones who are always in Switzerland.
The ones who started early, haven’t arrived and don’t know they’re not going to.
Oh, yeah.
The ones who lose wars by the skin of their teeth.
The ones who say, everything is wrong here.
The ones who say, now let’s all have a good laugh.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.